ICON OF THE MOTHER OF GOD “NEVSKAYA QUICK HELPER”

(Nevan “She Who is Quick to Hear”) is a particularly venerated copy of the miraculous Athonite image. This is a unique type of icon, not found anywhere else in the Orthodox East. In terms of its iconography, the “Nevskaya Skoroposlushnitsa” differs significantly from the well-known Athonite icon of the Mother of God “Skoroposlushnitsa.” In the Nevan image, the Mother of God is depicted without the Christ Child, with her prayerfully outstretched right hand, noticeably larger in size, symbolizing Divine help. It is difficult to say what prompted these iconographic changes. However, there is a tradition that the image was painted “according to a dream vision seen by a monk of the Holy Mountain.”